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Xenophobia: Fans call for Cosafa tourney boycott

Sport
ZIFA says they believe Cosafa will organise an incident-free tournament next month despite the xenophobic attacks that have been going on in the host country, South Africa.

ZIFA says they believe Cosafa will organise an incident-free tournament next month despite the xenophobic attacks that have been going on in the host country, South Africa.

BY SPORTS REPORTER

The tournament will be staged in the North West, which has not been affected by the violence against foreigners and will run from May 17-30.

Yesterday a group of fans, led by former football administrator Francis Zimunya, staged a demonstration in Harare against xenophobia and called on Zifa to boycott the tournament.

But in a statement, Zifa said: “We would like to reiterate that Zifa as a respected member of Cosafa has no intention of withdrawing from the Cosafa tournament to be hosted by South Africa.

“While we sympathise with all victims of the heinous xenophobia, boycotting our prestigious regional tournament is not the best avenue.

“The use of football is the best way to deal with these violent scenes.

“The fight against xenophobia is everyone’s collective responsibility and Cosafa should be applauded for uniting the region through football.

“We have also received assurances from the Cosafa leadership that all teams are guaranteed safety and security. Cosafa is known for organising splendid competitions and we are confident that this one would be incident free and peaceful.”

“While the message against xenophobia by Zimunya and his group is welcome, Zimbabwe is the chair of both Sadc and the AU and its boycott of such events will send wrong political messages as Africa is uniting to stop the scourge.”

President Robert Mugabe is the chairman of both organisations and Zimbabwe is hosting the Sadc summit in Harare next week.